The Evening: NATO, More Tariffs, Thanksgiving Rock and More

NATO Summit

The leaders of NATO are traveling to London this week to commemorate the alliance’s 70th birthday — but they will do so at a carefully crafted, foreshortened gathering, not at a full-blown summit meeting, as the NYT’s Steven Erlanger reports.

Dive Deeper : CSIS’s Heather Conley and Rachel Ellehuus briefed members of the press today on the upcoming summit, read the transcript here.

Tariffs on Brazil and Argentina

President Trump said he would raise tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Brazil and Argentina, surprising financial markets and opening a new front in the global trade war, as the WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun and Amrith Ramkumar report.

China Suspends U.S. Military Visits to HK

China said on Monday U.S. military ships and aircraft would not be allowed to visit Hong Kong, and also announced sanctions against several U.S. non-government organizations for encouraging protesters to “engage in extremist, violent and criminal acts,” as Reuters reports.

CSIS Executive Education

Nominations and applications for our 2020 Women’s Global Leadership Program are now open! If you or someone you know is an exceptional woman interested in deepening their understanding of geopolitical trends and executive leadership skills, please apply.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

785 Million

785 million people lack access to clean drinking water.

Source: CSIS, “Channeling Financial Flows for Urban Water and Sanitation” by Dan Runde and Christopher Metzger.

Critical Quote

“Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers. Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries.”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

CSIS
China is developing its largest and most powerful aircraft carrier to date. CSIS's Matthew Funaiole and Joe Bermudez illustrate China's sweeping efforts to modernize its navy.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.

Optics

CSIS
(Photo credit: Chesnot/Getty Images). French President Emmanuel Macron pays his respect to the thirteen French soldiers killed during a counterterrorism operation in Mali on November 25.

Recommended Reading

With Brutal Crackdown, Iran Is Convulsed by Worst Unrest in 40 Years,” by the NYT’s Farnaz Fassihi and Rick Gladstone.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., CSIS will hold a panel discussion about building creative economies like fashion, art, and film in developing countries using Taiwan and Indonesia as case studies.

And, at 2:30 p.m., CSIS will host a panel discussion focused on Sustainable Development Goal #1, which aims to decrease poverty, increase access to basic needs and services, and support people harmed by natural disasters and other extreme events.

Later, at 5:00 p.m., the Atlantic Council will hold a conversation about trade and climate policy in the 21st century with Finland’s minister for development cooperation and foreign trade, Ville Skinnari.

Video

In the newest episode of CSIS’s “What’s Happening” series, CSIS Africa Program director Judd Devermont discusses recent developments in Ethiopia’s 2020 democratic elections. Watch the video here.

Podcasts

Die Welt
On a new episode of The Asia Chessboard, Mike Green is joined by Ambassador Kurt Tong, partner at The Asia Group, former Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau, and former State Department Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs.

Listen on SoundCloud & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

I’m grateful for many things and this Thanksgiving offered the blessing of so many great football games! In all seriousness, we’re a football family—all my three sons play and they got through this season successfully and without injury. My “fourth” son, Walter Rouse, is Stanford’s starting freshman left tackle and he almost made it through the season without injury until the final minutes of Saturday’s game against Notre Dame. Thank goodness his injury isn’t serious and he’ll make a speedy and full recovery. We’re thankful for that.

In many ways, football has become America’s game. Sure, I know about the dangers. I know that some communities and High Schools are losing their ability to encourage participation. But that isn’t the case here in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia) where it has become widely known that the highest rate of elite football recruits per capita in the U.S. comes from our communities. In fact, an Ozy analysis found in late 2018 that the DMV produces the most NFL players per capita of any area in the U.S.

While watching college football this weekend, and watching my oldest son play his freshman season in college this fall I’ve been awestruck by the passion that overtakes universities all over this land.

The NFL is joined at the hip with the U.S. military and each and every game offers a “Salute to Service.” The connections that fans feel with their teams are sacrosanct. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to enjoy my dad’s Ravens tickets with two of my sons in an epic battle against the San Francisco 49ers. It was pouring rain and just above freezing for most of the game. Our seats are safely under cover on the club level and we didn’t have to deal with the elements. If it got too cold we could just take a few steps and walk inside for hot chocolate. So I marveled at the packed stadium that braved the elements. No one looked one bit miserable. It was a massive dance party! Like most smart NFL teams, the Ravens have a routine playlist of songs that they blast over the PA at specific times to get the crowd going. These songs become crowd favorites. They always play “Enter Sandman” by Metallica in the third quarter for example, which should be a problem because everyone knows that’s Mariano Rivera’s Yankee signature song, but no one cares because it rocks! I love it when the Ravens launch into the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Cherub Rock” in the fourth quarter with it’s “let me out” refrain. Watching the entire stadium sing and sway to the Pumpkins grunge anthem yesterday was something I won’t soon forget.